Almost all aircraft are equipped with exterior lights. In particular, large passenger air planes have a wide variety of exterior lights. Examples are navigation lights or position lights, beacon lights, anti-collision lights or strobe lights, wing lights, taxi lights, landing lights, runway turnoff lights, etc. These lights are provided with at least one light source having a limited life span. For safety reasons, every light source has to be replaced before the end of its lifespan has been reached.
It therefore would be beneficial to provide an exterior aircraft lighting device allowing near end of life detection (NEOL-detection) for determining an optimized point in time for changing the respective light source. In case an aircraft lighting device comprises a plurality of light sources, it would in particular be beneficial to allow individual NEOL-detection for every light source without much additional effort.